Tom Portman 'At One' with his music as he launches new album

Tom Portman celebrates the release of his new album, At One with a show at the Town Hall Studio this Saturday, January 29. The talented Galway based dobro and guitar player recorded the album in various locations including Spiddal, Inisbofin and Dalysfort Road, Salthill.

“The earliest tracks on the album were Gate Lodge and Islands,” says Tom. “I was living in a gate lodge on the old Killanin estate in Spiddal, in the woods. It was a couple of hundred years old and had lovely acoustics.”

Inisbofin island was an idyllic setting for Tom to work on his solo, acoustic music but it did present some challenges.

“I got the loan of a cottage out there,” explains Tom. “I headed out with all the recording gear for three days and just ploughed through it. It was lovely, but it was trial and error. I got there and set up all the gear in the kitchen. It was fine, and then the wind changed, this howling gale blew up. So the next morning I went through them and couldn’t use [the recordings] – so I went around the back of the house!”

Although a dab hand at playing the blues, Tom also likes to throw some other genres into the mix. At Dawn features Pete Lamb and Ivor Ottley adding some bluegrass tones to Rising Tide. Tom also delves into traditional music on his latest release.

“You’ve got Napoleon’s March Across The Alps which I heard from Charlie Piggott and Gerry Harrintgon years ago,” he says. “Paul Ha’penny is a tune I learned from Martin Hayes. I’ve also got Paddy Fahy’s Reel. He’s a fiddle player, really well respected.”

Some pieces on At One are improvised, while other tracks contain music that Tom has been working on for a few years.

“You keep adding little bits, and then a new idea comes,” he says. “I’m always tinkering away at them. Island was a song that I made into an instrumental. Some of it is very well planned and others are just nice accidents that happen.”

In concert, Tom stays true to his improvisational spirit and plays pieces that may never find their way into a studio.

“Some pieces that I play live, if I try and record them at home they just don’t have that same thing. Sometimes you need that spontaneity with an audience.”

At One is an album that defies an easy description, as Tom himself explains.

“A lot of the album is quite gentle. It either needs a listening audience or to be at home by yourself, around a fire. There’s a special space you go into. I was trying to write it up the other day and I was thinking ‘how do I put it without being too hippyish?’.”

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.